COPA Coca-Cola u15 Tournament heads to KwaZulu-Natal

The COPA Coca-Cola U15 tournament will continue to unearth grassroots football talent this coming Saturday, 18 August 2018 at the King Zwelithini Stadium in KwaZulu Natal. The globally acclaimed U15 School’s tournament will see the KwaZulu-Natal teams battling it out on the field to be provincial champions of KZN and go on to represent the province at the National Finals in September.

The 2018 edition of the global U15 School’s tournament kicked off in June in the Eastern Cape, where Malcomess Secondary School were the first school to secure a spot in the National Finals. Ikeleletso Technical High and Kuyakhanya Primary School will represent the Northern Cape and Western Cape respectively, while reigning COPA Coca-Cola champions, Clapham High School will get the opportunity to defend their title as Gauteng champions. Seiphemelo High School emerged as North West Provincial winners and became the fifth school to book a place in the highly anticipated COPA Coca-Cola U15 National Finals set to take place in Port Elizabeth between 26- 29 September 2018.

Umlazi will be the next stop for the popular school’s tournament, with twelve schools from the province confirmed to be battling it out to be title holders of COPA Coca-Cola champions of their province. The schools that will be participating in this weekend’s Provincial Play Off’s are (in no particular order or grouping)

Kwa Myayiza High School

Buhlebomzinyathi High School

Bongumenzi High School

New Guiderland Secondary

Nyika Secondary School

KwaGiba High School

Glenwood High School

Old Mill High School

Edendale Technical High School

JG Zuma High School

Tholithemba High School

Zashuke High School

While the goal will be securing a place in the COPA Coca-Cola National Finals, hopeful players can also look forward to this year’s life-changing scouting initiative called the COPA Coca Cola Future Stars. The search is led by tournament ambassador and former Bafana Bafana player Jabu “Shuffle” Mahlangu. Mahlangu alongside a panel of scouting experts will be tasked with identifying the best performing players from each COPA Coca-Cola Provincial Play Offs. The selected players will form part of the COPA Coca-Cola Future Stars Camp to take place later this year at the High-Performance Centre in Pretoria.

The camp will afford the selected players an opportunity to be exposed to the latest football training methods. The players will be assisted by a team of highly qualified sporting experts and will have an opportunity to play several friendly games against other junior academy teams from various Premier Soccer League clubs.

“The KZN province is rich in talent when it comes to grassroots football and it will be quite exciting to see who emerges as the provincial champions bearing in mind how competitive football is in the province. The PSL and Bafana Bafana have a lot of players who originate from this talented province and I am quite confident that we will enjoy exciting school’s football this weekend” concluded Mahlangu.

President of the South African School’s Football Association (SASFA), Mr Mandla Mazibuko thanked Coca-Cola for their continued support for football development saying that partnering with a globally recognised brand helps SASFA bridge the gap between grassroots and professional football. “It is time for this golden age generation to close the gap between grass roots & development football whilst playing competitively in line with fair play, honesty and integrity. The levels of development will no longer be the same, thanks to this partnership between all the stakeholders involved in the beautiful game” said Mazibuko.

With over 1.3 million teenagers from more than 60 countries taking part, COPA Coca-Cola is recognised globally as the leading grassroots football programme in the world. Youngsters and football supporters are urged to support their teams or follow the action on social media using #COPA Coca-Cola for news updates and results.